Hi from the team here at Bikewest. Yes, the DPI Cycling Unit has returned to its old and trusted name of Bikewest. We still retail our dual role of developing infrastructure and promoting cycling throughout WA. We are also still keen to hear from the Western Australian cycling community regarding their concerns, ideas, congratulations etc. We now have the second most visited cycling website in Australia (after Bicycle Victoria) and are just in the process of creating a direct link from our home page to this forum. From a personal point of view, I have been writing a weekly bicycle column in The West Australian for the past couple of years and am always interested about hearing from cyclists who have an interesting topic to suggest, or an intriguing story to tell. I am restricted to just 350 words in my column but hey, it is the only one in a major Australian newspaper. TonyS.

Careful linking to this forum...there are some pretty strange people here

We'll talk about anything here...motorists not seeing cyclists; motorists throwing things at cyclists when they do see them; glass everywhere; that ridiculous bike path along much of the Mitchell Freeway that has cyclists crossing at bloody dangerous intersections; pedestrians that walk across the dual use paths with iPods and can't hear approaching bikes... See...I can go on and on and on...

Must say though, it is nice to see some representation in the paper that isn't an abusive letter to the editor!! I read the column whenever I find it - is it just me or isn't is published every week (or does it sometimes move to other areas of the paper)?

The column appears in Saturday's Motoring liftout. It began in Oct 2006 and has been occasionally dropped for space reasons but is generally in each week. Many of the published articles are converted into fact sheets and can be viewed on the DPI cycling website (I think we are up to about 70 now).

We will also have a colour liftout in the West on Wed 27th March to recognise the lead up to Bikeweek 2008, so keep an eye out for that. It will include a calendar of events etc.

I spend quite a bit of time at the dpi cycling site - there are some nice recipes for ride fuel on there (though one stands out as having an error as the instructions quotes bran flakes, but they aren't in the ingredients!!). If people haven't read the recipes, I recommend them.

I don't know how much you can influence the Bike Week lift out Tony, but the news today that riders were deliberately hit by a car is very worrying. If something like this supplement could highlight the rights of cyclists (can ride 2 abreast etc) in relation to road rules, it would be great. (not that this offender will read it, but hopefully the law will catch up with him - see post in the General Discussion area).

Yes, the website is still under DPI Cycling. We are currently in the process of making it the "one-stop-shop" for all things bicycling in WA. Much like Bicycle Victoria does with its website in that State.

TonyS wrote:Yes, and they also have four times as many staff. Anyone with any suggestions for items we need to add to the website are welcome to send us their ideas.

Touring Route information for tourists. Currently BicycleWA is carrying the enquiries. Unfortunately our web server was abducted by aliens several weeks ago, and while I had backups, the change over was not so smooth, so most of our touring information is still not reloaded. (I'm the webmaster)

I get so many enquiries about "When are you going to run another tour of the South West?" via email and our website, (that I'm referring to Bicycle Victoria) it is ridiculous. Really someone in WA really needs to be running these kinds of rides. I contacted Bicycle Vic myself and they indicated that they did not have one planned. The interest is there for another South West ride.

It's good that you have made us aware that Bikewest is now back. Do you intend to run this as an organisation similar to Bicycle Victoria? For example have members who pay an annual subscription etc.

Thanks for that. The short answer is no, we are not the equivalent of Bicycle Victoria who I think have about 40,000 members or so. The closest thing in WA is probably the Bicycle Transportation Alliance. However, we do many of the same things that Bicycle Victoria do e.g. maps, fact sheets, website, conduct events, advocacy etc. and some things they don't e.g. coordinate cycling infrastructure. Bicycle tourism is certainly one of the real boom areas of cycling and we want to do much more in that field over the next couple of years.